In the immediate aftermath of the G20 summit in Buenos Aires, it was far from clear whether the trade truce between the US and China would even last until Christmas.

Not only were there doubts about the commitments made during the dinner between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping, but markets were tanking, and Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of Huawei, was arrested in Canada following an extradition request from the US — a huge slap in the face for Beijing.

But then, on both sides of the Pacific, something of a rescue mission appears to have been launched to prevent the ceasefire from collapsing in its earliest days. China began taking some of the initial steps it had promised on the margins of the G20. It cut car tariffs back to their levels before the trade war, it began buying US soyabeans again, and officials have indicated they are ready to change the country’s industrial policy.